University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Continuity, change and possibility in older age: identity and ageing-as-discovery

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 17:12 authored by Peta CookPeta Cook
Traditionally, sociology has framed older age as a time of disengagement, withdrawal and reduced social integration. While now largely dismissed in contemporary sociological understandings of ageing, narratives of decline still feature heavily across social, media, and medical discourses. This negativity towards ageing could be at odds with how older people experience their age and identity. In this article, I will explore how 16 older people construct their self-identity. Drawing on participant-generated imagery and interview data, this article exposes that they experience older age as a time of continuity, discovery, possibility and change, where identity is multiple and fluid, and emerges through the links they make between the past, present and future. Thus, while ageing is not without its difficulties, the research participants challenge the social myths that reductively and negatively frame older age by constructing an identity that builds on their past through an active exploration of new possibilities and experiences.

History

Publication title

Journal of Sociology

Volume

54

Pagination

178-190

ISSN

1440-7833

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Sage Publications Ltd.

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 The Author

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in human society

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Categories

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC